Disclaimer: ...need I say it again? I own nothing but Xaimy and Axel
Chapter 3: Absolution
A dark space. Cold and dingy. Angry voices directed to one sad soul.
"You are so selfish!"
"I can't believe we trusted you with this…"
"Why are you always such a jerk Sparks?
People, very upset people, yell at Izzy while all he can do is sit and listen. Then, they are all gone. Izzy is all alone. He curls up into a ball and sits in the darkness. Just then, seemingly in the distance, he hears a voice.
"Izzy? Izzy…wake up." Izzy opens his eyes…and sees a set of bright red eyes staring back at him. He was dreaming. Xaimy has just roused him from his nightmare. "Are you awake now? Ha-ha, you are such a sleepy head. Come on, get up." Xaimy stands over him and shakes him gently. Izzy blinks a few times before sitting up. He sighs heavily and places his head in his hands, covering his face. Xaimy stares at him, knowing already that he's had a nightmare. He was practically whimpering in his sleep. She raises her hand and pats him on the head, same as she did the night before. "Are you okay Izzy?"
"…Yes. I'm fine." Izzy speaks with his face still buried in his hands. He looks up slowly, his eyes fighting back tears. "I'm okay. Thanks for asking." He turns his face away again. Xaimy giggles and smiles at him.
"No you're not. You're miserable, I can tell." Xaimy giggles again. Izzy looks at her, confused as to why she keeps laughing and a little hurt as well. "It's okay. I specialize in comfort." Xaimy smiles wider, leans down and kisses him on his forehead. "Come with me. We have breakfast ready."
"Okay, lead me." A small smile creeps across Izzy's face as he crawls out of the bed and Xaimy takes his hand. She leads him out of the dark room and into the lit-up hallway. She takes him down the grand stair case and to the large kitchen. Axel is already sitting at the table, eating his favorite breakfast of sweet cereal and a toasted bagel. Xaimy leads Izzy to a seat at the table where a plate is ready, filled with more food than Izzy had eaten in days. Bacon, eggs, sausage, pancakes, toast; everything a man could want at breakfast. His stomach suddenly growls with anticipation and forgotten hunger. Xaimy giggles again.
"What would you like to drink? We have all kinds of juices and even coffee if you drink that." Izzy turns to Xaimy who stands with the refrigerator door open, showing off the plethora of juices for him to consume.
"I don't drink coffee in the mornings. May I have some orange juice?"
"Certainly." Xaimy smiles and fills his request. Axel stops eating his cereal for a moment and looks at Izzy.
"Why don't you drink coffee in the morning? Do you drink it some other time of day?" Izzy sits forward in his chair to talk to Axel.
"Well, typically I'll drink it at night if we…my band, have to stay up really late. Otherwise I'll fall asleep quicker than you can blink." Xaimy comes to the table with two glasses of orange juice, one for herself and the other for Izzy. She takes her seat next to Izzy and begins to eat. Izzy does the same, albeit much faster. Xaimy half watches Izzy eat, being rather amused by how hungry he is. Normally, he would complain about being hungry, even if he ate not too long ago, but with things the way they were, he seemed to act much more refined, or at least quiet.
Before Xaimy had woken Izzy up, she and Axel did some research on him. They found out about the punk rock band he was in, Band Aids, and all they had gone through together. They even listened to the band's number one hit single, Chikn N Gritz, a song Izzy wrote himself. They found out about his past, the illness he had when he was a child and the troublesome years he lived as a teenager up until where he is now…supposedly dead. Throughout his teen years, he and his only three friends formed a band and where almost instant rock stars. After playing for together for about six months, they made a mix CD and sent it off to many record companies. One company went out on a limb and signed them. They never looked back since. They were said to be the tightest band's next to Aerosmith, always there for each other. That is, until Izzy's "payment date" came around. His friends hated him overnight, along with everyone else in the world, leaving him no place to go. He wandered around for two years before giving up and dying; unable to push on for another two years of such torture. Now he sits at Xaimy's kitchen table, eating with the very two people who "rescued" him.
After they all finished breakfast Xaimy takes Izzy's plate, practically clean now, along with her own and places them in the sink. Axel gets up and stretches while Izzy finishes the last of his orange juice. Xaimy looks out of her kitchen window and all the snow that has piled up from last night's storm. She lets out a sigh and smiles.
"I have such a love/hate relationship with snow. Love playing in it, hate having to move it." Axel laughs and walks to the window.
"Well, that's why you have me as a friend. I can just melt it." Axel snaps his fingers, forming a small flame on his pointer fingertip. Izzy, watching from the table, shakes his head in disbelief.
"Did…I just see that right?" he asks in a soft, very confused voice. Xaimy walks over to him and sits down again.
"Yes, you did. I suppose I should explain where you are so you won't be so confused all the time." Xaimy looks down at her hands, then up at Axel, who has returned to his seat as well. "You see, Izzy…you're in the Netherworld right now." Izzy stares blankly at Xaimy. He looks to Axel, hoping this would be some kind of joke.
"You're kidding…right?" Izzy simply doesn't believe what she just told him. Axel speaks up.
"Nope, not at all. You're not in Kansas anymore."
"Vegas." Xaimy corrects him. "His hometown is Las Vegas."
"Whatever. You are in the Netherworld, and with two of the best Gravediggers in the land. One of which is the daughter of the ruler of the land." Axel motions to Xaimy as he speaks. Izzy still stares in disbelief. Xaimy pats his head again.
"Izzy, I know that you probably can't believe what we are telling you, but you are in the Netherworld. Don't get me wrong, this isn't the same as Hell. But you are in the World of the Dead now. There is no way we could bring you back while you were still on Earth, so we brought you here." Izzy turns and looks Xaimy in the eye. He was actually pretty good at being a lie detector, but everything in her stunning red eyes was truth. He felt his stomach sink.
"How…can this be? Will I ever be able to return to my home? To my…band?" He looks at Axel, then back to Xaimy. She sighs heavily; closing her eyes briefly and folds her hands in her lap.
"Izzy, there are complications with your death. Because you were supposed to die ten years ago and because you did die on Earth, there technically isn't much we can do as far as bringing you back to Earth as a live human being. However, until we find out the specifics about the contract you were bound to, we can't do anything. You're lucky you are even here with us. You should be getting judged right about now." The color drains from Izzy's face at the mentioning of the word "judged". Even though he was only 17 years old, he had done many horrible things both to himself and to others. Taking that into account and the fact that he made a deal with the Devil would surely get him sent to Hell. At least he had something to be thankful for. His judgment had been postponed. Xaimy reaches up and cups Izzy's cheek, hoping to soothe him a little. "Don't worry. I promise Axel and I will do our best to get this figured out for you. If all goes well, you may be able to return to life on Earth. Who knows at this point?" Xaimy smiles, moving her hand from his face to his shoulder, then back to her lap. Izzy lets out a heavy sigh, his shoulders dropping as if the weight of the moon was placed upon them.
"I…still can't believe…How could things have come to this? What did I do to deserve all of this?" Izzy closes his eyes and raises a hand to his head, as if he had a headache.
"Don't think of it that way. You make it sound so much more terrible. I told you, Axel and I will figure this out for you. Try not to worry. I know you will regardless, but for your own mental health, try not to. Okay?" Izzy opens his eyes and looks at Xaimy. Her calm, sweet face makes him feel better; however thoughts still swirl around in the back of his mind. He lowers his hand leans back into his chair.
"I…don't want to sound pessimistic, but what exactly can you two do that would make any difference?" Axel chimes back in the conversation.
"Find the bastard devil that bound you to that contract for starters. After that, we need to find the 'specifics' of the contract and perhaps find a loophole in it. We have our own protocol to follow as Gravediggers which we can use to nullify any 'shady' contracts between humans and demons. Seeing as how your contract was initially made when you were too young to really know what was going on, we may be able to use that to nullify the contract." Xaimy then takes over to explain the more difficult part.
"However, if we nullify that contract, you may still die because it was that contract that kept you alive for so long. The deciding factor on whether you will live or die depends on how you treated people while you're life was extended. If the influences you made were more or less good, you may get approval to live again. If not, well…then back to Purgatory to await judgment." Izzy gulps and slouches in his chair. It seemed like he was screwed either way. Xaimy speaks up again. "However, there may also be a bit of a loophole wherein you won't die, but you won't be able to return to Earth. If people on Earth find out you are dead, you definitely cannot return because you cannot break the Laws of the Living." Axel interrupts with some filler information.
"Basically, if a living person knows you are dead, you have to stay dead. Law of the Living. There are some exceptions to this, for example if that same person dies before telling any other living person that you are dead then you are allowed to come back." Xaimy nods in agreement.
"If that is the case, then you may end up staying here in the Netherworld, have to die here and then be judged. If you do have you stay here, you can stay with us. However, seeing as how you are basically human and have no special power or anything, dying here won't be that hard." Xaimy looks outside, thinking of all the monsters that could kill Izzy in the blink of an eye. She shudders at the thought. Izzy sighs again. This seems to be all he can do after hearing this reality check.
"So, where do you guys start? How do you begin to find the devil that did this to me?" At this point, Axel stands up and stretches.
"I have a friend in the 'contracting business' that may be able to help me. I'm going to start there. I'm meeting him in about an hour, so I'm going to head out. I'll be back later today and let you guys know if I find something." Xaimy smiles at Axel.
"Be careful while you're out. And dress warm!" Axel laughs and snaps back.
"Woman, I'm practically made out of fire! I'll be fine. See you two later!" And with that, Axel leaves the kitchen and the front door opens, a cold gust rushes in, and closes again. Xaimy stands and pushes in her chair. She walks to where Axel was seated and pushes in his chair as well.
"I am going up to the Library to do some more research. You are more than welcome to come with me if you like. If not, you can wander the mansion and explore it if you like. I just have two rules." For the first time, Xaimy looks at Izzy with a frighteningly serious look. "Do NOT go in the basement. Do NOT go outside. Okay?" Izzy gulps again and nods. For the first time, he felt scared of her. Xaimy then gives him her trademark smile and caring eyes. "Good. If you need anything, use any of the intercoms that are in the rooms. Just find the Library on it and press call. I'll come find you later." And with that Xaimy smiled, turned and left Izzy alone in the kitchen. He sat with his thoughts for a few minutes before feeling restless.
"I guess I'll go explore this place." Izzy spoke to himself. He then got up, pushed in his chair and walked to the nearest doorway. "Who knows, this may be my new home after all."
A/N: Curious to know, who wants Izzy to die again? Anyone? R&R please!